HELENA — Remember when Montana Tech's men possessed a commanding Frontier Conference lead? And Carroll College's women were struggling with Rocky Mountain College and company for control?

Well, flip that. The men's penthouse is now occupied by two teams, the Saints two games clear of competition on the women's side.

HAVRE — Jack Reardon poured in 20 of his Frontier-best 26 points Saturday in the second half, knocking down four triples to headline a 57.7% team shooting effort and plus-9 come-from-behind half.

Raefe McEnroe split a free throw pair with 2.8 seconds remaining, forcing a timeout-less Tech into a missed game-tying heave at the horn. Cinque Maxwell was clutch at the stripe with 10.1 seconds left, hitting both freebies to put Northern up four. Hayden Diekhans’ offensive rebound and layup kept Tech alive ahead of McEnroe’s efforts.

Reardon scored seven straight, converting back-to-back driving layups and a 3-ball, when Tech pulled within a point late. McEnroe buried a jumper at the shot clock buzzer with under 90 seconds to play, extending a two-score advantage, and Leon Sayers IV regained that lead with free throws on the Lights’ next possession.

Tech’s Michael Ure misfired a triple, but paired with Keeley Bake to connect back-to-back buckets, and for a fleeting moment, stave off defeat. Northern made nine of its 13 second-half free throws, was clutch in the final minutes and ended a 1-9 recent stretch with a signature victory.

Reardon finished 11-for-18 from the field, adding two rebounds and three assists.

McEnroe totaled 12 points off the bench and Maxwell contributed nine and four boards.

Bake paced Tech (20-4, 8-3 Frontier) with 18 points and five assists. The fifth-year senior closed within 111 career points of 1,000, doing so on 6-for-10 shooting with two 3-pointers.

Brayden Koch notched 14 points and two rebounds. He exited with over two minutes to play Saturday after suffering an apparent lower leg/ankle injury.

Diekhans and Ifeanyi Okeke scored 10 apiece, combining for nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ure missed a double-double with nine points and eight boards.

A week ago, Tech won its eighth-straight contest and held a two-game Frontier advantage.

Saturday was the Orediggers’ second consecutive defeat and Providence is now tied with Tech atop the league standings. Since scoring 80 on the road against Carroll, the Orediggers are averaging 66.7 points per game.

Northern (8-16, 2-9 Frontier), three games behind nearest competition, is playing for little more than pride right now. Saturday was just the Lights’ fifth NAIA victory of the season and fourth non-forfeit triumph.

The Lights recovered from a six-point halftime deficit, battled Tech to a draw on the boards, and shot better than 45% as a team for the fourth time this season in Frontier play.

: Montana Western; Thursday; Havre

: Rocky Mountain College; Thursday; Billings

GREAT FALLS — Providence is the first Frontier team (men’s or women’s) to eclipse triple digits in conference play this season. Six Argos broke into double figures Saturday, Providence shot 61.7% (37-for-60), buried 11 3-pointers, and roll into a new week tied with Tech atop the league standings as winners of three straight.

Mike Wright Jr. scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting, Antoine Boyd Jr. added 18 and three assists. Nikolajs Atanasovs chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, while freshmen Quinn Swanson and John Floyd combined for 22 points and five boards off the bench.

Rocky (16-8, 5-6 Frontier) failed to shoot 40% in the loss, and for the sixth time this season, trailed by double figures at halftime. The Battlin’ Bears are 1-6 when down at the break in league play. Saturday, they entered intermission in a 49-35 hole, then allowed Providence to break 50 in the final 20 minutes.

Carter McCoy, Jaylon Lee, and Royce Robinson each tallied 10 points. Lee completed a double-double with 10 rebounds and Robinson chipped in four boards and two assists.

Coming off a career night, Jesse Owens finished 3-for-10 from the field for seven points. He doled out a game-high six assists.

Rocky, having dropped five of its last six games overall, has allowed 90 or more points in three straight contests (1-2 record).

Providence (14-10, 8-3 Frontier) officially surpassed last season’s conference win total. The Argos haven’t won more than eight single-season Frontier games since 2020-21 when they swept regular-season and tournament titles.

: Carroll College; Thursday; Great Falls

: Montana Tech; Thursday; Billings

DILLON — Tied 69-69 with under nine minutes to play, Bulldogs guard Alan Kane bucketed seven of Western’s next 10 points as a part of a plus-seven run. When Carroll pulled within six points, Kane responded with a layup.

Jalyn Stepney then scored Western’s final eight points as the Bulldogs, paired with a Rocky loss, forced a three-way tie for third place in the Frontier standings.

Kane totaled 15 points Saturday, his most in conference play, scoring 13 on 6-for-8 shooting in the game’s final 20 minutes. Stepney tied his season-high with 28 points and set a season-best with six made 3-pointers – all in the first half.

Abi Adedo added 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. All five Western starters broke into double figures, including Kyle Gruhler (12) and Kevin Bethel (10).

Isaiah Crane paced Carroll with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Isaac Round and James Lang scored 14 apiece and combined for seven rebounds. Kellen Harrison knocked down three triples and added 13 points, his fourth double-digit scoring game in his last seven.

Ninety-two points are Western’s most in a league victory this season. The Bulldogs (13-11, 5-6 Frontier) have now scored 90-plus in back-to-back contests after failing to crack 70 points in three straight.

Carroll (10-14, 5-6 Frontier), with a Rocky loss, faced a prime opportunity to sit alone in third place after Saturday. Instead, the Saints dropped a third game in their last five and the rubber match for league tournament seeding against Western.

: MSU-Northern; Thursday; Havre

Providence; Thursday; Great Falls

DILLON — Kyndall Keller scored 13 of the Saints’ final 16 points Saturday, erasing a four-point hole with 4:24 to play and guiding Carroll on a plus-11 conclusion to its seventh victory in the last eight overall.

The result, outside of Carroll taking a two-game Frontier lead with four regular-season games to play, was a career-best 25 points on 7-for-18 shooting for Keller. She knocked down a go-ahead 3-ball with 1:35 to play, totaling four triples to pair with two rebounds and two steals.

Keller’s exclusive 9-0 fourth-quarter run included two 3-pointers, a fall-away jumper from the block and a split pair of free throws. She totaled 18 points in the final 10 minutes, combining with Willa Albrecht to score 45 of Carroll’s total points Saturday.

Her fourth consecutive 20-plus point effort, Albrecht notched her second double-double in three games with 10 rebounds.

Western (7-16, 2-9 Frontier) led by seven points two different times in the first quarter and Trinidie Nicholas splashed a buzzer-beating three to put Western up at the half.

Ava Bellach capped a 7-0 Bulldogs run with a triple at the fourth quarter’s four-minute mark. That proved to be Western’s final field goal until inside of one minute to play, a dooming stretch in the Bulldogs’ seventh straight defeat.

Isabella Lund paced Western with 17 points and four assists. Keke Davis added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Payton Hagy totaled 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Carroll (17-7, 9-2 Frontier) improved to 12-0 when scoring at least 60 points this season.

Saints head coach Rachelle Sayers earned career victory No. 298 on Saturday, pushing her overall win percentage that much closer to 70%.

: Providence; Thursday; Great Falls

: MSU-Northern; Thursday; Havre

GREAT FALLS — Ainsley Thurber scored eight of Providence’s first 19 points Saturday, totaling a season-best 16 in 21 game minutes off the bench. Rocky fully erased a five-point first-quarter deficit with eight straight from Gracee Lekvold, but never led in the second half.

Thurber netted six third-quarter points to ensure that, while Ashlee Maldonado knocked down three fourth-quarter triples on her way to 15 points and a vital Argos victory.

Keanna Salave’a scored a team-high 17, adding nine rebounds, two assists, three blocks and a steal. Eliannah Ramirez and Monique Carter chipped in six points each as Providence shot 49% (24-for-49).

Providence (16-7, 6-5 Frontier) continued its uneven league slate, winning the third of its last four top-25/receiving votes matchups after dropping three straight in January. Saturday represented the Argos’ most decisive league victory of the season by margin and just the program’s second Frontier outcome decided by more than eight points.

Currently fourth in the conference standings, Providence pulled back within earshot of a potential first-round Frontier Tournament bye.

Lekvold totaled 19 points Saturday, knocking down three triples, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two assists. Sydney Dethman joined her in double figures with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting, while Paige Wasson and Isabelle Heggem each scored six points and combined for 13 rebounds (five offensive).

Rocky (15-9, 7-4 Frontier) shot 35.1% (20-for-57) Saturday, scoring its fewest points in a countable game this season. Just four of 20 attempted 3-pointers fell and nine of Rocky’s points came at the free throw stripe.

Rocky finished plus-seven on the offensive glass, but netted just four second-chance points.

The Battlin’ Bears have now lost two of their last three overall, both against top-25-ranked competition. They fell back into a second-place tie with Tech in the league standings.

: Carroll College; Thursday; Great Falls

: Montana Tech; Thursday; Billings

HAVRE — The Orediggers’ struggle for their program’s best season in a decade-plus boils down to four final regular-season contests. They’ll make or break an impressive two months, and if the chips fall just right, end a lengthy title drought.

Saturday’s victory moved Tech into a second-place tie with Rocky, two games behind Carroll’s Frontier lead. The Battlin’ Bears and Saints are next up on the schedule, and while Rocky holds the head-to-head tournament seeding tiebreaker, Tech’s three nationally-ranked league victories provide confidence the Orediggers can finish at least one game better.

Already, Tech’s (16-8, 7-4 Frontier) win total ties 2016-17, the program’s most recent notable campaign. The Orediggers have four games left to match their nine Frontier victories from that season.

Another Carroll loss between now and Saturday could mean Tech, assuming a head-to-head victory in Helena, enters the regular-season’s final week tied atop the standings. The trick is Tech plays at both Rocky and Carroll before finishing at home.

Aubrie Rademacher paced Tech with 18 points Saturday. Her and Hadley Humphreys combined for 16 rebounds as the first-year Oredigger supplied 15 points, two assists and two steals. Liv Wangerin added 13 and Tech held its third straight opponent to fewer than 68 points.

Leading 54-50 late in the third, Humphrey’s free throws began a 6-0 spurt pushing that edge to double figures. Northern never closed within eight points in the fourth as Wangerin scored six of Tech’s 16 points.

Northern’s Shyan Krass erupted for 16 points, her most since Dec. 29. Becky Melcher and Katelynn Forner chipped in 11 apiece. Forner added six rebounds, three assists and four steals, while Canzas HisBadHorse narrowly missed a double-double scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds.

For Northern (11-13, 2-9 Frontier), it’s a fourth straight loss. Tech has now won three consecutive contests, including back-to-back on the road.

: Rocky Mountain College; Thursday; Billings

Up next (MSUN): Montana Western; Thursday; Havre